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Air Balance

Builders, raters, and installers use ENERGY STAR’s HVAC System Quality Installation Contractor Checklist (HVAC/C) to document the sizing and testing of HVAC equipment. The requirements from the checklist do not involve the actual installation of specific measures. Rather, these checklist steps verify that a particular procedure was followed or that appropriate information was used in selecting or sizing equipment. This page provides the full language for the selected checklist requirement and shows the applicable footnotes describing how to comply; however, a full measure guide showing installation information is not needed. For information on installing HVAC equipment, see the HVAC System Quality Installation Rater Checklist.

Footnotes:

The footnotes for this measure are listed below. The numbering corresponds to the original checklist document so some numbers may appear out of sequence.

1. This Checklist is designed to align with the requirements of ASHRAE 62.2-2010 and published addenda and ANSI / ACCA’s 5 QI-2007 protocol, thereby improving the performance of HVAC equipment in new homes when compared to homes built to minimum code. However, these features alone cannot prevent all ventilation, indoor air quality, and HVAC problems (e.g., those caused by a lack of maintenance by occupants). Therefore, this Checklist is not a guarantee of proper ventilation, indoor air quality, or HVAC performance.

This Checklist applies to ventilation systems; to split air conditioners, unitary air conditioners, air-source heat pumps, and water-source (i.e., geothermal) heat pumps up to 65,000 Btu / h with forced-air distribution systems (i.e., ducts) and to furnaces up to 225,000 Btu / h with forced-air distribution systems (i.e., ducts). All other permutations of equipment (e.g., boilers, mini-split / multi-split systems) and distribution systems are exempt. If the ventilation system is the only applicable system installed in the home, then only Section 1 shall be completed.

One Checklist shall be completed for each system and provided to the Rater.

6. For Sections 1 through 5, the “Cont. Verified” column shall be used to indicate Items verified by the credentialed contractor (or a firm or HERS Rater hired by the contractor). In contrast, for Sections 6 through 12, the “Cont. Verified” column shall only be used to indicate Items verified by the credentialed contractor (i.e., neither a builder, nor a firm, nor a HERS Rater are permitted to verify Sections 6 - 12). The credentialed contractor is responsible for these Items and shall sign this HVAC System Quality Installation Contractor Checklist.

24. Ducts shall not include coiled or looped ductwork except to the extent needed for acoustical control. Balancing dampers or proper duct sizing shall be used instead of loops to limit flow to diffusers. When balancing dampers are used, they shall be located at the trunk to limit noise unless the trunk will not be accessible when the balancing process is conducted. In such cases, Opposable Blade Dampers (OBD) or dampers located in the duct boot are permitted.